With the Midterm election just days away, Republicans are going into overdrive on voter suppression, fear mongering, and outright lies. They know they cannot win on the issues so they rely on dirty tricks to give them a chance. The fact that they are even close to maintaining their majority speaks to the sorry state of our democracy.
Over half of Americans support the idea of a single payer health care system, yet we could actually move the other way. Republicans are directly lying about their plans for health care. They place the profits of the insurance industry over the well being of the citizenry with claims of protections for pre-existing conditions that they are actively trying to eliminate.
When asked, a majority of Americans say they are against Trumps immigration policies. They favor legal status for Dreamers and giving asylum to victims of domestic abuse and gang violence. They reject separating families as a deterrent and building a border wall. Republicans rely on stoking the unfounded fear of dangerous criminals pouring into the country.
More Americans than not believe Climate Change is happening and is directly caused by human activity. A majority believe that protecting the environment should be prioritized over energy production. Big energy companies throw a lot of money at Republicans to quote disproven scientific claims and confuse people about the universally scientifically accepted facts.
LGBT rights also enjoy the support of the majority, along with reproductive rights, higher minimum wage, legalized marijuana and campaign finance reform. The GOP's strategy to combat this is to attempt to keep the people who support these issues away from the voting booth. They work to disenfranchise younger voters and people of color by closing polling stations and voter ID laws. They gerrymander districts to their advantage in order to maintain a majority of representation with a minority of votes.
Our current system of representation allows and even encourages cheating in order to maintain power. The anything goes philosophy of the Republican party needs to be removed from American politics and replaced with a truly representative electorate. Of the people, by the people and for the people should include everybody and our representatives should reflect that.
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